When you grow up in an Italian family, you get used to what I like to call "group food projects." One of those is making a big batch of pasta sauce with meatballs. We make regular size meatballs for Sunday pasta, which are about the size of a golf ball. For a special dish called "pastachina" (pronounced pasta key-na) small meatballs (about the size of marbles) are traditionally mixed right in with the sauce and baked in with a bunch of cheese. The traditional recipe also includes sliced hard-boiled eggs. I don't put those in mine, but sometimes add a layer of spinach or ricotta cheese.
In any case, this "lasagne" is delicious and today Mom and I got together to make a big batch of meatballs. I am making four huge pans of pastachina for some co-workers. So, I took a little video of us making them and I poked fun at my Mom for her unusual meatball rolling style. Check it out.
